BATH TIME!

Here is Michael and his "cousin" Antonio taking a bath at our house the other night. Antonio is the son of his "Uncle" Vinny(Michael's godfather) and "Auntie" April.

He is an amazing little boy! Very well behaved...the poor guy puts up with Michael always wanting what he has and he very nicely lets him have it with little protest!

Thank You Antonio for putting up with baby Michael and being such a big boy with him :)

WATERMELON!!

Well with a litle beak in the weather this week I had a craving for one of my FAVORITE foods. WATERMELON!! Mike and I have been know to eat this and only this for days straight when its hot in the summer. Here is some pics of Michaels first go at it. He loved it! Especially off of my newly mopped floor...I didnt mind the sticky mess though it was worth it!

I am definately ready for summer and this sweet treat was a nice little taste of it...I hear they are calling for snow later this week...

March Resolution Update!

Ok I kinda feel like I have cheated this month BUT I am counting it. Vera House is a great organization for women. They help take women who are in abussive relationships and get them out quickly.

I USED to think these women make their own bed...if they wanted out they could get out...that they somehow liked the drama...I have grown-up a little in my way of thinking. We All find our selves in good, bad, and ugly situations on a daily basis. Weather it be a side street that is a little darker than we thought, an abusive relationship, helping a friend who maybe doesnt desirve help. But we get through either by smarting up or with the help of others.

A lot of these women have kids and have to leave so quickly they only have the clothes they are wearing. Most of them have to cut off contact from not only the one who is hurting them but their friends and family, for awhile so they arent found. How awful!

Vera House helps them shelter, clothes, food and anything else the may need along the way. They are always in need of personal heigene products, diapers for babies. And what we call the neccestities..socks, underwear, toothbrush, toothpaste for kids and their mothers.

I being a hairdresser get TONS of hair products a year a lot of them are either samples or sold at a very reasonable cost. I usually give these to friends, family and clients throughout the year. I boxed up all my extra products left over from Christmas and took it over to Vera House. It was mostly shampoo and conditioner that were smaller sizes too so I thought it would be easy for them to move around (a lot of these women have to go to shelters before they can a find something more permanant).

Well thats my update for this month!! Thanks for everyone being supportive in my little pet project and helping me finds things to do!!

Resolution Update! (Feburary)

Feburary update....As some of you know I am apart of Mommy and Me of CNY. This is a great group of local mommy's, that do various things with there kids or sometime alone all together!

We also try to help out by making meals for mommy's in need (i.e. having another baby, hospital stays, deaths in family etc..) I am apart of this board.

I decided when I had Michael and a very good friend of mine (shot-out to Miss April), did this for me, that I would do this for others. She made quite a few dinners for me (all freezer ready) so I could use them as needed! What a blessing and help that was! It doesnt seem like much but it IS!!

One of the mommy's had another baby the 15th of Feburary and called in reinforcements. I made my dad's FAMOUS and I do mean famous Chicken Shells. (I have included the reciept at the end of this blog) for her and her families.

These are a rare treat in our house because just as good as they are tasting, they dont have a lot of good things in them. Being that I try to find a good excuse to make them...they are a great comfort food and it rained all day yesterday so they where perfect.

It turned out nice, the husband even recognized me from my cousins facebook, they had, had her do some photography work for them (tarapolcarophotography.blogspot.com).

Anyways adopt an eldery neighbor or a busy mom and when you make dinner make a double batch. It will make very little difference to you and the world to them!!

****Lew's Famous Chicken Shells****

*now as with all of my dads receipts they were not written down only by momery, so tweek this to fit your need and please bere in mind I am still trying to figure this the best I can.

2--boxes of jumbo pasta shells (prepared)

3--boxes of chicken stuffing (prepared)

chicken breast cubed or shredded (any amount is good I usually use left overs or a couple cans of canned chicken breast)

1/2c-1c of mayo (NOT miracle whip--I had to throw out a whole batch because of it one time) You can use light mayo though

1-2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup mixed with 1/2 can of water - to each can

Parmesean chesse

*optional and veggies you like

1-Mix stuffing, chicken, mayo, and veggies all together (i usually use the pan I prepared the stuffing w/ so use a bigger pan

2-take 2, 9x13" pans pour 1/2 of the chicken soup mixtures in the bottom of these pans (yes this make a lot but it is the only way I can get it to work, you can cut it in half but use 2 boxes of stuffing and you will just have some extra. Mike and I use the broken shells for these ;)

3-one by one take a shell, stuff it with the stuffing mixture and place into the pans in a row. Continue this with all the shells

4-pour the rest of the chicken soup over the top and sprinkle w/ parmesean cheese

5-Bake at 350 untill golden and bubbly and serve about 20-30 minutes

I wanna stress my dad (Lew) would have said just eyeball it, if you like mayo add some extra, if you wanna use turkey so be it! Dont over think it and have fun with it!

ROCK BOTTOM

"Well I am thinking or at least hoping I have hit rock bottom. " At approx 7pm tonight this is what is going through my head.

I am at the 24 hr Kinney Drug store waiting for a few presciptions for my boy, sitting next to a lovely gentleman, and this I kid you not, drinking a beer (yes in the store) talking to his son on speaker phone (of course) about how no you can not have pancakes that is a breakfast food, "I got you some chips" the man explained.

Then as a "lady" aka baby mama of this gentleman yelled over from aisle 12 asking about getting a potty chair for the baby, he very "calming" explained to her "why cant the child use ther s**ter like everyone else".

What led me to this? Why I am I not home with my husband and son on a Sunday night watching the few and only shows I typically watch on a semi- regular basis i.e. baby allowing??

Let me take you back a few days, as most of you know Michael has been fighting an ear infection for about 3 wks now, which 1 wk ago became a double ear infection (see previous blog for more info ;). Thursday/Friday night WE didnt sleep all night or day and I say that with very little exageration! Saturday we recieved from the tooth fairy count them 2 shiny new pearly whites. In the midst of all of this!

Now that in and of itself hmm..not to bad. We have also had a nasty little cough getting progressively worse over the week. The dr. assured me just post nasal drip (with no running nose??) This led to Saturday/Sunday night being yet again restless. Anywho that led to my 10 month old not breathing this afternoon and a quick trip to urgent care said yup like mommy and a few of his aunite's Michael has Asthma and had just had an attack :( (Try giving a 10 month old a breathing treatment, one who hasnt sleep in pretty much 3 days).

My only saving grace is that it WAS a weekend and daddy was home to help. As much as he could Michael only wanted mommy. That being said Mike told me Saturday that it was pretty much life or death that we go on a "road trip" this weekend. Life or death to the engine in my car (dont ask me, what does he know about cars). Cant be next weekend hmm??

So Saturday afternoon we piled into the car and drove to Old Forge for some lunch. It was actually really nice and sunny and the baby got a little sleep. Of course that wasn't enough so we did some on the through way too on Sunday. Thank goodness mom took Michael for those couple of hours.

Despite all of this (or because of it who knows), I have never had so many laughs with my husband in 1 weekend! I am hoping that for today the worst is over but I guess even saying that is begging for it...Any ways I hope this makes me a more seasoned Mommy and must say pretty proud of myself!! I know this is part of the job and will take every minute of it especially when at 6am after being up since 1:30am when Michael put one hand on my cheek smiled and gave me a "kiss" (mouth wide on my nose) I knew I would take a million more of these nights for one more of these kisses.

I am going to bed!

P.S. - it sounded so good, we had pancakes for dinner :)

A Day In The Life of Michael

7:00am--wake up
7:00-7:45am- play in crib(pull everything out of the hamper next to my crib)
7:45am-wake mommy up (by screaming as loud as I can)
8:00am-eat breakfast (mostly, what I dont like I give to nikki, the doggy)
9:00am- get dressed (usually includes a fountain show for mom)
9:30am-play, or go to Y with mom (and play there)
11:00am-eat some more
11:30am-take nap (maybe)
1:00pm -wake up and play(pulling everything out of drawers, cupboards, moms purse, ect..)
2:30pm-play (with the dog bowls)
3:00pm-maybe run arrands with mom (probebly grocery shopping, I help by unloading all of the fruit out of the cart [and onto the floor])
5:00pm-take another nap(maybe)
7:00pm-wake up and eat (daddy's now home!)( I.E. ignore mommy)
7:15pm-play (again)
8:30pm-eat dinner with mommy and daddy (well I eat, they are the entertainment)
9:00pm-take bath (I help get mommy and daddy too)
9:20pm-story time with daddy while mom massages neck and shoulder (for tortacollis)(ahh..the good life)
9:40pm-bottle
9:45-10:00pm-fall alseep while mom rocks me :)

REPEAT

***INTERVIEWERS NOTE***
I dont know very many people who could handel such a rigourous schedule, but by all means give it a try!! ;)

POOPFEST Winter 2009

Well the s**t hit the fan today! Michael is on a antibiotic that as usual causes some extra poopy. (we had 6, count them 6 outfit changes on sunday, including 1 in B.J.'s). On top of that it makes it a lovely shade of red (sorry I know T.M.I.). So today being Wednesday is my normal day off so I gladly spent it with my sick baby snuggling and loving on him.

I DID NOT however gladly spend cleaning not only his, but the cat and the dog's behind as well.

That's right my cat in the bathroom....the one where her litter box is, you ask??? Of course not! Oh on the nice easy to clean tile then?? NO! On the 1 square foot of rug that I purchased (and spent WAY more than I should have) when we redid the bathroom. Wasn't that nice of her??

The dog spared me, pooped (and pee'd) on my kitchen floor, only after she stepped in it!

My animals do not usually do this sort of thing. A weird alien intestant parisite?? A early April fool's joke?? A hidden camera show maybe I dont know...I do know that this day however, will go down as our first (hopefully not annual) Poopfest day :)

Thanx for listening to my vent!!